Five People Anybodys Could Have Been
by Get Real Or Die
Summary: My January 'Five Things' response Warnings: Allusions to slash, rape, suicide. Anybodys was who she was; here's who she might have been


Author's Note: Okay so while it may look as if my New Year's Resolution challenge is of to an inauspicious start, I disagree. I finished the story on the 31st and the only reason I haven't uploaded it was because I haven't been unable to.

Five People Anybodys Could've Been

1. One Of The Guys

The kid's about Baby John's age but whereas Baby John's skittish and reluctant to start trouble, the kid is willing to jump in on any brawl at any time. It would be easy for Ice to say the kid was like Action, who was a ticking time bomb that would go off one day, but that wasn't true. The kid would jump up and fight at anytime, same as Action. But while Action would never try to start with him, Tony or Riff unless pushed the kid would throw his hands up if one or the other said something he found offensive.

Especially when it came to his sister.

The kid's sister was...fast was the best way Ice could put it but quite bluntly, the kid's sister was a prostitute. But the first time anyone had made a crack about it he launched a right at their jaw. The unlucky man had been Arab but Ice understood. Say what you want about the kid's haircut, or his clothes but a man's sister was his sister no matter what.

The night they're gonna rumble with the Emeralds Riff, in a spirit of jocularity, had invited the kid to rumble with them. Tony shrugged, equally amused by the scrappy punk. So that's how it came to be that he ended up fighting side by side with the kid.

And the kid was good.

He wasn't as overpowering as Ice himself, nor did he have a reach as long as Tony's, or the sheer fierceness that was Riff in a brawl. But he darted in out of fights like swimming through the water and when he punched, he usually landed with startling accuracy. By the time the rumble was over, Ice was jazzed but his body felt like he could sleep for a week.

The kid looked like he could go for another all-out right then and there.

He sees the look of consideration of Tony and Riff's faces and the look of disbelief on Action's face. Ice knows what Action's thinking because he's thinking it himself.

'Who's third in command now?'

They end up nicknaming him Anybodys because he'll fight anybody.

2. The Girl Who Sold The World

It was strange to know that he owed his life to someone he barely considered at all except as an annoyance. When the rumble went down, Anybodys had put pressure on his and Bernado's stab wounds until the bulls had gotten there and got them to the hospital. And while he didn't give a flying fuck on whether Bernado lived or died, he was very glad he didn't die like he thought he would when he'd been stabbed. Bernardo had lived; surprised an American so much as touched him let alone to save his life.

When the police got there, Riff was still dying and Bernardo was almost dead. Since the only one able to talk wouldn't dime out the Jets or the Sharks, the good lieutenant had to punish someone. He learns all of this later from Tony because while this is all going down, he's in the hospital having pints of blood shoved in him.

As for Tony? Turns out he'd had a thing for Bernardo's sister. And while Riff patiently listens to Tony's tale of love, Riff politely reminds him he only met the dame the other night and stabbing a girl's brother is bound to put a damper on the romantic aspects of a relationship. The fact of the matter is, Riff was annoyed at Tony for joining in on the rumble in the first place. If he hadn't, as raring as they all were to go at it, the fight would have most likely stuck to Ice vs. Bernardo. They would have beat the living dog shit out of each other but they wouldn't have died.

And that's when he lets go of the last piece of his resentment at Tony for leaving the Jets. If Tony was seriously jumping into the middle of rumbles so his girl wouldn't get her panties in a bunch about a fistfight, he'd lost his last vestiges of leadership. A true leader knew that some things were gonna happen regardless of what you'd prefer and that the only way to ride it out was to not stir the pot too much. The best thing Tony could have done was what he did do: get the fight to be one on one and skin only. Jumping in like he'd done had made a volatile situation more volatile.

Either he truly was in love or he'd just lost the last vestiges of the qualities that had made him the best leader for the jets.

Either way it was done and it's during one of these visits, that Riff thought to ask where Anybodys was at. The rest of the Jets had come to see him and he knew the kid had to be out there lurking in the halls getting the guts up to come in. Or at least thought he knew.

That part about Shrank having someone to punish? When they questioned him he didn't tell them nothing and he guessed Bernardo had done the same because in a weeks time Anybodys had been charged with 10 years upstate. But Shrank, cold-hearted bastard or not, knew the girl hadn't stabbed no one. She ended up getting 5 with the possibility of time off with good behavior.

It was a hard situation for a girl like her to find herself in. And even though he knows jack shit about girl prisons, he's pretty sure that five years was an ordeal in any type of prison. There's a part of him that can't help be proud of the fact she kept her cool and kept from squealing about the rumble. Sometimes the only thing that could keep Baby John from telling Krupke or Shrank everything they wanted to know was the Jets' presence.

After he hears the news about Anybodys, he doesn't even absorb the fact Bernardo was alive too. And just like in his own case, it was due to Anybodys interference.

He's glad to be alive, glad to be able to flirt with the nurses and bitch at Tony. Nothing could make him regret that.

But 5 years was a long time.

When she comes back, it's in 3 years and she's changed. It's evident from the moment he sees her again that she's not the same kid that used to follow them around with stars in her eyes. And it's even debatable if she can even be referred to as a kid anymore.

He's going to pick up Tony from Doc's and when he enters, he notices a girl at the counter talking quietly with Tony drinking a pop. She's wearing a white pair of tennies, a pair of green lounge pants, and a black men's undershirt considerably more filled out than when she left. Her copper hair is in a mass of curls around her face coming down as far as her chin. He gives a low two-tone whistle on a hunch, the Jet's whistle, and Tony and her both turn toward him. It was Anybodys.

She meets his gaze evenly. "Hey Riff."

There was so much he wanted to say but he came up with the most obvious question first. "Hey kid. When you'd get out?"

She plants her soda on the counter before squarely facing him. "Yesterday afternoon but I didn't get back home till this morning. Tony saw me sitting on my stoop and invited me in for a soda and then you came in. What's the news?"

He finds himself telling her: how the Jets were still number one since Bernardo and the Sharks had started concentrating on expanding their turf into the other direction, how the Emeralds were getting bolder about coming into their turf again, a whole bunch of stuff he's never discussed with anyone but the Jets.

Speaking of...

Here he pauses and speaks seriously. "Anybodys you did a good job the night of the rumble cause even though I told you not to get involved, I'm glad you did cuz I wouldn't be standing here if you hadn't. If you still want in with the Jets, you've got it."

And Tony's pointedly turned away but Tony could suck a lemon. He does owe her and she's wanted this for as long as he's known her.

She shakes her head. "Can't. Gotta get a job to show the P.O that I can start being a "productive member of society". In fact, Tony talked Doc into letting me help around here. I start next Monday. That's the only way the P.O won't send me back and you best believe I'm not going back."

The look on her face is unbearably far away for a moment. "I won't be doing that at all." She snaps out of it within a moment before concentrating on him again. "Thanks anyway." She's shook Tony's hand and clasped him quick-like on his shoulder before she's gone with her pop still clasped in her hands trailing down the street.

He's confused by her whirlwind exit. "What was that about?"

Tony looks uncomfortable. "Come on Riff. Anybodys wanted to be a Jet as long as there's been the Jets and the one thing that's got you ready to let her in? That's the reason she can't do it. It's gotta be eating at her. And she did it for you man. Just looking at you has gotta be eating at her even more."

He's following her down the street without a second thought ready to make this right.

3. California Girl

They're gearing up to fight the Emeralds when she comes to New York. Her sister's one of the local prostitutes but she don't mind when the boys crack jokes about her. She just starts cracking them back. He'd first seen her at one of the dances in the gym and she's by herself dressed nothing like he's seen before. She was wearing a white dress but instead of having straps over her shoulders it wrapped around her chest tightly showing off her breasts. He doesn't know who she is and he goes up to her to make sure she's not one of the Emerald's girls.

He don't even get an answer before she's gotten him to dance with her, leaving Graziella high and dry. At that point he's not even thinking about her alone and sore as all get out. He's too focused with how warm the mystery girl is in his arms and how green her eyes are. When Tony buts in to confirm or deny on whether or not she's an outsider, he gets pulled onto the floor to dance with her.

After she dances with Tony, she's dancing with Action who moved in to interrupt. He definitely can't blame Action because she's got to be the best looking dame here. It was just the way she danced, the way she walked, the way she laughed. He's leaning against the wall outside tie undone and breathless from being dragged around the dance floor for the last half-hour and she's still tapping her feet. He finally gets around to asking for her name and she promptly tells him her name's Anybodys.

"What kind of name is that for a girl as cute as you?"

She looks at him, grinning at his compliment. "Actually it's a nickname. I'm from California and I tried to sell marijuana to a cop once. So because I'll sell it to anybody, my friends started calling me that."

"You're from California. I never met a girl that came from California before."

She pokes him in the chest. "Well I'm glad to be your first. I live with my stepmom and my dad but my mom wanted me to come out and live with her for a few months to see if I like it. And if the boys out here dance as good as you do I might have to stay."

"You don't dance so bad yourself."

They go back in and start dancing some more. The rest of the boys like her well enough but she spends the most time with him and Tony. Graziella's long gone and he's just glad he doesn't have to drop her off at home. The nameless broad Tony had ended up bringing was dancing with some blond kid and Tony's doing what he's doing: either dancing with her or watching the other dance with her.

Afterwards the Jets plan to meet up at Doc's and he walks her home. When they get to her stoop she kisses him lightly before she goes inside and his lips tingle all the way back to Doc's.

The next time he sees her she's sitting on the hood of Officer Krupke's cop car nonchalantly smoking a joint while he's berating them, back turned to her. He knows it takes everything he has to keep from cracking up so he wonders how the rest of the Jets can bear to keep a straight face. When she's done she puts it out on his fender and lights up a cigarette as she comes over to them.

"Hello officer. Boys."

Krupke gives her a once over. "I've never seen you around here."

"I don't live around here."

He gestures towards them. "Well stay away from this lot. Nothing but trouble.."

She eyes them and gives him a nod. "Really?"

Krupke leaves and she turns to them. "You guys pushers or something?"

Tony answers, "We're the Jets. The good lieutenant's just sore because he's got to always stop us from stomping some heads in."

And this may be a deal breaker here because he's only known her for a week and he already knows she don't take much seriously. Her philosophy in life was "chill". She was generally mellow and while she wouldn't mock them, she probably just wouldn't care which would be even worse.

She arches an eyebrow at him. "You guys jump people?"

He shrugs taking the cigarette from her hands and hitting it. "When they come on our turf, yeah."

It's clear she doesn't understand but she takes her cigarette back from him and starts trying to blow smoke rings (he's been trying to teach her but no dice). "At least you're pissing off the bulls."

And that was that.

It's a week later and they've had the war council with the Emeralds. He's chilling with the Jets minus Tony when he heard Anybodys shout from around the corner from the basketball court. They race over there just to see Tony nearly knock the head off of one of the Emeralds while Anybodys holds her face while she stands on the chest of another Emerald holding a hand over one of her eyes.

He's by her side in a flash while Ice helps Tony who don't really need it, he's so pissed. She's got an obvious black eye but nothing else seems to be wrong with her. "You okay?"

"I was coming back from getting something to eat when these fucks came out of nowhere and tried to jump me and if it wasn't for Tony they would have."

"What was she doing in our territory? You need to tell your girl…" he's interrupted by Anybodys stamping her foot on his chest.

She looks as serious as he's ever seen her. "I ain't a Jet and I'll walk where I please. You ever put a hand on me again, you'll lose it, got it?"

The guy's silent so she stamps on his chest again. "Got it!"

"Good." She lets him up and watches the both of them leave with him and the rest of the Jets.

She turns to look at all of them. "When you guys stomp them, I'll throw you the biggest beer bash you've ever seen."

The Jets are cheering but he's watching her look at Tony like he's Superman. He feels his chest tighten before he turns away resolutely. The only guy he would actually consider competition when it came to girls was so obviously digging her but he hadn't worried because it was Tony. But with the way she was looking at him?

That wasn't good at all.

But he shakes it from his mind and focuses on the rumble.

They do stomp the Emeralds and maybe a little of the ferociousness of the way they fight has to do with the beer bash they're not stupid enough to not want but mostly he's just pissed. She shows up at the vacant lot like there was no doubt they'd win and she grabs Baby John and Arab to help her carry cases. Through the holes in the fence come Graziella and Velma and some other broads, who she invited to come. And that's just the kind of girl she was that she didn't understand that Graziella wasn't going to be looking to play nice. Because as far as Anybodys knows, he was a free agent before they started going together but Graziella lost face when he ditched her that night.

She dances up to him a grin on her face. He grabs her around the waist and twirls her a bit just because he can and he's always jazzed after a rumble. "I'm glad you won."

"Who told you?"

She smooths down his t-shirt. "I knew you'd win." She sounds sure and the conviction in her voice is better than the joint she hands him or the beer he gets when the case eventually makes the rounds to him. They sit in the lot in a circle with some of the Jets and the girls talking and laughing getting steadily drunker.

She's sitting in his lap and he's laughing at some story she's telling when he happens to look up just to see Tony looking at them face inscrutable. He meets his gaze evenly because Riff's not a sucker and he won't fight Tony over a girl but he won't back down neither. His face must be sending a message and Tony's recieving it because he simply salutes him with the beer he's drinking before he drains it and goes to get another one.

It's late and they're stumbling back towards his and Tony's apartment. They're silent as they walk and Anybodys walking between them and when she stumbles a bit (as drunk as they all are, they've all been stumbling some) Tony's arm links with hers and even after she's standing again, he doesn't let go. Tony won't meet his eyes but Anybody flushes and gives a sideways glance towards him before gently extracting her arm and leaving it at her side.

He's quiet until they get to Tony's house. He blocks the way up the steps. "I think we have a situation. Are you my girl or are you Tony's?"

She shrugs looking as embarassed as Tony does. "I'm your girl but I won't lie and say I don't like Tony too."

Tony looks elated. "You do?" He sobers at the pissed look that Riff's shooting them. "Oh."

She looks as grave as Tony does. "But I'm not stupid. Riff asked me out first, I said yeah and that's the end of it"

Riff's still looking pissed. "That's not the end of it. Before you came here, I'd never even think of choosing a broad over Tony. But I like you alot. More than I ever liked Graziella or any of the other girls I dated. If this is some plan or a way to try to tear me and Tony apart, you've got another thing coming. Because the day you go back to Caifornia he's still gonna be my best friend and nothing's going to change that."

She puts her hands up in irritation. "I'm not trying to do anything, especially ruin your friendship. I barely know you to even try something like that. You asked and I was honest with you."

Tony looks miserable. "So what now?'

A smile spreads over her face, the earlier stress of the conversation disappearing like dust in the wind. "I have an idea. Can I come inside with you guys?"

Riff's face is a mask of confusion. "Why?"

"Have you ever heard of a menage a trois?"

An hour later Riff's laid out on his and Tony's pushed together beds with Anybodys and Tony on either side of him asleep. All three of them were as naked as the day they were born. He's shocked at what they just did but he should have known that an idea coming from Anybodys would be out there.

He loves Tony, honestly he does, but he'd never planned on taking it this far. When it was late at night and he stood at the side of his bed and looked down at Tony's face, he felt.... intense was the only word for it. But he'd never planned this.

He felt a jolt at his left side just before hearing Anybody's sleepy voice. "Go to sleep Riff."

He leans down and kisses the side of her face. "Anybodys?"

"Yeah?"

"I hope you never go back to California."

4. A Mom

The night of the rumble with the Sharks after Tony, Riff, and Bernardo died she was crying on the front stoop of Doc's. Home wasn't a place she wanted to be on a good day and she couldn't stand to go home and deal with the shit she had to deal with every other day on a day like this. Her heart feels like it's breaking and it's not because of Maria's stupid little speech where she talked about stuff she knew nothing about.

It's almost sunrise when Action turns the corner and sits next to her on the stoop. "What are you crying for ugly?"

She barely looks up from where her head is down on her knees. "Go away."

"You can have my beer if you stop crying."

She sits up and takes the beer from his hand and downs it quickly. "You got another one?"

He stands up and grabs her by the arm pulling her down the street. "We're going to my house."

She doesn't have the strength to argue with him even when he hands her four more beers or when he starts taking her clothes off and kissing her so hard her lips start bleeding. She just lays there and takes what Action does to her and even though it hurts, it's more feeling than she's felt the whole night. He throws her clothes at her when he's done and she puts them on and goes home and stays in the whole day.

Two days later, she runs into the Jets and they immediately start razzing her for the vicious marks on her neck. But she has no tolerance for it because since what happened she's been getting steadily pissed off at herself and at Action. She socks Arab square in the jaw, actually putting her weight behind it instead of going in with no plan of attack. She'd meant to hit him in the jaw and she'd done it. She looks at the ll except Action (who she can't bear to look at). "Don't mention it. Ever."

She walks away quickly, embarrassed that she lost her cool like that. She hears footsteps behind her and hopes to God it's not Action. At this point, she'd even take Arab coming for revenge. But it's Ice who actually looks concerned for her. She shoves her hands in her pocket ignoring the way he keeps stride with her. She turns to face him at the end of the block and like always, her heart skips a beat at the sight of his face.

"What do you want?"

"I want to know who did that to you."

"What do you care?"

Here Ice looks even more concerned and a little bit sad. "Once upon a time, I would've thought you'd have wanted me to care."

Her face blanches because she knows what he's talking about. Only a blind idiot wouldn't be able to see that she was sweet on Ice. Velma used to give her the most horrible imaginable. The Jets weren't as attune to her feelings as the girls had been and the only Jets who'd known was Tony (who was nice enough not to mock her for it) and Riff (who endlessly pitied her). She used to lie awake at night wondering what it'd be like to be kissed by him. But even the thought of anyone touching her made her sick somewhere deep inside of her.

"Well you're wrong. It don't matter anyway. He ain't getting within 3 feet of me ever again."

She avoids the Jets for another week before getting up the guts to run with them again. As horrible as the night Tony & Riff had died, she'd earned her stripes and the right to be there. Besides, her body wasn't sore anymore and if she concentrated hard enough she could pretend t didn't happen.

So life goes on. She no longer looks at Ice like he's savior of the world. In fact, she more often than not looks off to the side of his head. Close enough to be miscontrued for eye contact but not. As for Action? She gets cornered by him once and knees him where he likes to be touched 3 times and it makes her fell a little bit better about life in general. So she goes on like this day by day until the day she wakes up and has to run to the toilet to throw up.

From the moment she lets loose, she knows what's going on. She's pregnant and she knows what she has to do. Her sister's been to Madam Jizz 3 times and she had only needed 2 weeks to recover until she could hit the streets again. Later on that night, she walks up to her sister where she stands with the other streetwalkers and gets Madam Jizz's address.

She doesn't know how word spreads to the Jets but on her way to Jizz's, Action literally throws her into an alley and slams her against the wall.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." And as per usual now a days, she doesn't look at him.

"You know what I'm talking about. Look at me!"

She looks straight at the ground. "I don't want to."

"Well you better before I make you look at me."

She lifts her head and isn't surprised to see the look of rage on Action's face. But she is surprised when he grabs her by the head and kisses her. It starts off like all of the kisses he gave her that night so long ago but it gentles quickly. Action's lips are trembling as if the act of being gentle is too much for him. She breaks off from the kiss and pushes at him futilely. "Let go of me."

"No. You're pregnant ain't you?"

"I ain't."

"I know you are so you better not lie to me. Is it mine?"

She gets away from him by dint of Herculean effort. "It's not and what's it to you anyway?"

He looks as serious as she's ever seen him.

"It's mine isn't it? And you were just gonna go and kill it with that butcher that whore of a sister of yours always uses."

She laughs until she makes herself sick. "What makes you think that even if it was yours I'd keep it? I hate you and if I wasn't so fucked in the head that night, I would've never let you touch me."

Action looks incredulous. "You loved it."

She resists the urge to knee him again because judging by the way his hand was shaking, it'd be the quickest way for her to make him lay her out.

"Yeah I loved it. I loved it so much that after you threw my clothes at me and practically kicked me out the door, I went home and cried myself to sleep. Yeah, it was a dream come true."

"It don't matter now. You're stuck with me. So here's the news. If I see you anywhere near Jizz's as soon as you drop my kid, I'm gonna beat you black and blue for thinking about it. You can hate me as much as you want..."

She interrupts with pure venom in her voice. "That ain't gonna be a problem."

He's still as serious as a funeral and this is the point where real fear hits her like a bucket of water. When Action was angry he wasn't thinking clear and maybe she could have talked her way out of this. But a sinking feeling hits her that this was the way things were gonna play out; exactly as he was describing it.

"Glad to hear it. You can hate me all you want as long as you do what I say when I say it. I'll try to be gentle with you if I can help it because I don't want you running off and doing something stupid. But if I have to dog you for the next 8 months, you're not gonna kill my kid. Matter of fact, you're moving in with me."

And it's just like that night because Action's words have got her so punch drunk she allows him to lead her home without so much as a word of protest.

And the next seven months go exactly like Action said they would. He holds her hand and opens doors for her like she's really his girl. When the Jets first rag on him for knocking her up, he simply shrugs. They've both changed. Action's become less angry and more goofy each and every day her stomach gets larger. She's becoming more and more depressed because she can't run with the Jets and he's basically kidnapped her from her home. As shitty as it'd been, it'd been her home just the same.

Her back hurts all the time and the day Action proposes to her, she decides to kill herself. She's huddled in her old bedroom with her dad's deuce pressed to her head when an amazing thing happens; the baby kicks right as she's about to pull the trigger. The gun's on the floor and her hand's on her stomach. She feels an amazing feeling well up inside of her and for the first time, she's actually excited that she's going to be a mom.

If nothing else, she'd make sure this was _her_ kid and never Action's.

5.) The Girl No One's Paying Attention To Behind The Curtain

Yeah Ice is technically the leader of the Jets.

And yeah regardless of what help she gave them the night of the rumble, she's not a Jet in any way shape or form.

But she's the one Ice comes to with the problem of where do they go from here the day after the rumble. And she's got a big mouth and a lot of opinions on the matter so it becomes a bi-weekly thing for them.

They meet at Doc's and talk until the Jets are supposed to meet up at the basketball court. And he never tells her to beat it like Riff did but she understands she's not welcome just the same. And maybe this is a way of growing up or she's just tired of struggling to be part of a gang where she's not wanted, but she doesn't push it.

So yeah. Velma's still Ice's girl and she's not a Jet. But when she hears about the Jets pushing the Sharks and Emeralds straight into a rumble against each other and gaining the lost territory, she knows that it's her plan that was made into reality.

And that's worth all of the isolated feelings in the world.


End file.
